Leonid Kuchma: We defiled out country and still keep on doing - 13 September, 2002

Mister President, until now you have been strict toward the parliament (Leonid Kuchma called it “the destabilization center in the country”) and criticized a proportional election system (he called it “parties on the sofa”). However, recently your opinion has drastically changed. Why?

- I see that my statements are closely followed. Indeed, these are words I said some time ago, however, I now stick to the same opinion. So far. In my turn, I would like to ask you as well: isn’t it right that people’s opinions and views change with the time and due to experience we gain? I am sure that you agree it is so. I would like to get back to our contemporary history. I admit that the life teaches us serious lessons. It is an open secret that Ukraine has been living under conditions of the strictest opposition between the executive and legislative authorities within several past years. I am perfectly sure that Ukraine would achieve much better results in economy and in people’s life if we concentrated more on making effective government structures. Probably, the situation of vagueness and imperfection was really favorable for many political powers. The parliament is never responsible for the situation in the country. Deputies at their sessions are ready to blame anyone in the Earth of any problem, but never shoulder responsibility for it themselves. The life teaches us lessons, and experience of other countries, our neighbors, suggests the same.

In 2000, the government enjoyed political support of the parliament, which meant the parliament majority, and further, coalition and ideological majority. Currently, I like it more because I object to opposition powers. No good result can be achieved when organizations supporting different views and opinions (and those ones standing on different levels of the country’s development) make attempts to get united either for making a majority, or for creation of an opposition. The latter is being currently realized in Ukraine.

Let’s get back to the year of 2000: political powers in the parliament finally understood that the parliament couldn’t be only a political structure any more and the life should be changed. At that very period, it took the parliament just 8-9 months to pass so many important legislations as we had failed to do within the previous years. And I’m sorry, and hope that many politicians also do, that the infamous tape scandal stopped that regular successful process in November. Someone aimed at breaking political stability in the country. Political powers of that period had no chance any more to enter a normal political scene as they had lost support of the population. We all know perfectly well what has come out of it. We defiled our country in the world and still keep on doing now. I say once again, we could have had much better results in the economy instead of those we currently have.

More than 5.8 million people voted for Nicholas Maduro at the presidential election in Venezuela. This is more than a quarter of registered voters. Why did those people vote for the man, who, as Western media write, took Venezuela to the brink of collapse?